The Ordeal of the Euro: A Surprising Comparison

The U.S. correspondent of the Serb daily Politika Momcilo Pantelic (January 5) writes:

“At a time when the E.U. is attempting to reinforce centralized control of its periphery, its foundations are being threatened by excessive nationalism and accumulated incompatibilities between member states. This is a situation that is strongly reminiscent of the golden age of Yugoslavia (1981–1986), a period when it came close to joining the European Economic Community.

“And that is not the only parallel. Much like Belgrade and Zagreb, Berlin and Paris have become pillars of the Union in spite of the differences between them. At the same time, we have seen a flare-up between financially responsible and spendthrift countries and between the more developed and less developed members of the E.U. All of this has a lot in common with the process that led to the break-up of Yugoslavia.”

One Response to The Ordeal of the Euro: A Surprising Comparison

  1. Sure hope that when (if?) the EU fragments, the process is gentler. I don’t like the thought of Rome looking like the Sarajevo I served in in 1998.

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